On 6 September, 2005, nine more Caribbean nations signed up to the PetroCaribe cooperation agreement, under which Venezuela will provide oil to Caribbean countries on concessionary terms.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez had already signed bilateral agreements with Jamaica and Cuba, and, under the deal signed earlier this month in Montego Bay, Jamaica, he entered similar arrangements with the heads of State or delegations from Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.

Caribbean governments are already calculating millions of dollars in savings arising out of the Pet
roCaribe oil agreement with Venezuela.

The beneficiary governments will pay 60 per cent of the market price up front, and can finance the remaining 40 per cent by way of a soft loan over 25 years at one per cent interest. The governments can also pay for part of the cost with services or goods such as rice, bananas or sugar.

Venezuela has agreed to supply some 185,700 barrel per day of oil to the region. In order to make this possible, Venezuela will put in place a regional supply, refining, transport and storage network.

Caracas political administration commits itself to invest in expanding existing refineries in order to permit the treatment of Venezuelan heavy crude oil (for example, in Jamaica, and Cuba), and will invest in fuel storage facilities in countries like Grenada, and Antigua and Barbuda, in order to increase their capacities.

Jamaican Prime Minister, Percival J. Patterson, welcomed the oil initiative by Venezuela, saying the agreement would serve to deepen and streng
then the bonds of friendship and the process of collaboration between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Caracas.

"It also represents an important vehicle for enhancing energy security, promoting capacity building and accelerating the development agenda at the national as well as the regional levels", said Patterson.

Two Caribbean nations declined to take part in the agreement.

Trinidad and Tobago has its own oil resources, and already supplies CARICOM member states with about 60,000 barrels a day in exchange for other resources. Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados, which also stayed out of the agreement, said his country's existing energy arrangement with Trinidad and Tobago was effective.

David Comissiong, spokesperson for the Clement Payne Movement - a community-based, activist organization in Barbados - criticized the decision as a missed opportunity to reduce oil import costs.

"The only conclusion we can come to is that the Barbadian government has buckled to
the pressure no doubt coming from the US government," he said.

"The kind of revolutionary thinking, that Chavez is bringing back to the Caribbean, is an alternative to the neo-liberal, globalizing free trade policies of the United States. We think Chavez is the man of the hour."

Progressive leaders, in the Caribbean countries that have signed up to the PetroCaribe agreement, celebrated the deal as a break from what they see as US imperialism in the region.

As part of the PetroCaribe deal, in which Venezuela will upgrade the oil refinery in Kingston, Jamaica, the government will be required to scrap attempts to privatize the complex.

"Our union is of the belief that certain sectors of the economy shouldn't be subjected to the whims of foreign investors," said Roberts, whose union includes workers in tourism, communications, transport and the civil service.

Roberts welcomed the V
enezuelan initiative as an alternative to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which he described as "inimical to the sovereignty, welfare and democracy of the region."

'Eye on the Caribbean' is realised by Charles Arthur, and is provided in a partnership between the Haiti Support Group and AlterPresse as a contribution to Haiti's greater integration within the Caribbean region.

[quote]Trinidad and Tobago, which also declined to sign the Petrocaribe deal, already supplies Caricom member states with a total of about 60,000 barrels a day, and Prime Minister Patrick Manning has criticized his regional colleagues for signing an accord that he said had the potential to “erode the economy” of his country. The country’s energy minister, Eric Williams, expressed specific concerns about the future of the state-owned oil company (Petrotrin), and said that as a result of the Petrocaribe deal, “it is questionable what will become of Petrotrin’s own refinery and marketing arrangements within the region, how it will all fit together”.

Another Caricom member state that has stayed out of the deal is Haiti. Desp
ite the obvious advantages, the interim government, which is supported by the United States, has not provided any information on its intentions. After a series of fuel price increases in recent months, a platform of Haitian grassroots organizations called the Collective to Mobilize against the High Cost of Living (Kolektif Mobilizasyon Kont Lavichè in Creole) has started to collect signatures for a petition calling on President Chávez to press for Haiti’s inclusion.
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